Source for this fan???

[GinNB]

This is a late finish to this thread, but to make a long story short I couldn't find a source for a comparable fan. I ended up building one of my own after talking to someone who has made them before. Instead of imitating the complicated version in my earlier pictures, I made one with 4 flat blades which flow more air at a lower rpm. The trickiest part was making a perfectly straight and symmetrical jig. I had a local precision machine shop square up some 8" channel iron for the base (8.00" by 8.00") and drill a hole precisely in the center. The center hub for the fan blades is a Boston coupler, and I used it to precisely weld the shaft straight in the jig by clamping the coupler to the base and welding the shaft on the backsde with a series of tack welds so it wouldn't pull and end up crooked. I then welded 4 pieces of angle iron to the base precisely in the right spots to hold the fan blades symmetrically when clamped. Flatbar was used to reinforce the base of the fan blade's weld to the coupler. Each fan blade and reinforcement was weighed and matched to the gram to help ensure the balance.

Fan was installed and worked perfectly. It has a slight vibration but worked for weeks this spring with no trouble. Well, except for the fact that it blew MORE air than it should and we had trouble keeping the first tube on the airbox lit, even with the motor idled down. Mods for next spring include different pulleys to slow down the fan even more.

I had more pix taken but they're on my cameraphone which has refused to let me dload the other pictures. Grrrr...